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Midea’s new CFO wants to transform the appliance king into a tech giant that competes with General Electric and Xiaomi

  • Midea CFO Jeremy Choy, a former Hong Kong banker, says Midea is a technology company that competes in smart homes, robotics and industrial automation
  • After losing its former Austrian CFO, Midea is looking for people like Choy to further expand its international footprint, the new executive says

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Midea CFO Jeremy Choy says the appliance maker is a technology giant in its own right, competing in smart home gadgets and robotics. Choy, former head of Asia technology mergers and acquisitions at HSBC, was hired out of Hong Kong after Helmut Zodl departed in January. Photo: Handout
Josh Ye

Seven months into his new role as the chief financial officer of Midea Group, 39-year-old Jeremy Choy is starting to feel at home in Foshan, a city neighbouring Guangzhou in southern Guangdong province.

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With multiple new Midea office towers being visibly constructed behind him, Choy told the South China Morning Post in a video chat on October 29 that the appliance giant is ready to be taken seriously as a technology company, competing head-to-head with the likes of General Electric, Siemens, Philips and Xiaomi.

“Many people still regard Midea as merely a home appliance company, but if you look at our broad product portfolio in smart homes, building technology, robots and industrial technology, we are in fact a technology company,” he said.

Before moving to mainland China from his native home of Hong Kong, Choy was head of Asia technology mergers and acquisitions for HSBC. Before that, he worked for Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan. He joined Midea in April, shortly after the appliance brand saw its market capitalisation soar past 700 billion yuan (US$109 billion).

Choy succeeded Helmut Zodl, Midea’s Austrian CFO, who resigned in January.

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